The Marketplace of Ideas: to come to terms in L.A.

This week on The Marketplace of Ideas, I talk to Laurie Ochoa and Joe Donnelly, founding editors of the new Los Angeles literary journal Slake. The magazine, which has just released its third issue, combines fiction, poetry, essays, reportage, photography, and several different kinds of visual art into a regular exploration of Los Angeles from every angle — and an exploration of the rest of the world from a Los Angeles angle.

Given the recent relocation of Marketplace of Ideas World Headquarters to Los Angeles, what conversation could be more appropriate than one with the creators of such an engine of fresh explorations of the city? Topics directly related to the city — and thus, in some sense, directly related to human existence — include navigating the world in microcosm, living in a town that couldn’t care less whether you like it, feeling the drive of imagination toward the future rather than the past, realizing what your life really is, and approaching place through various types of art and journalism all at once.